Twitter is a fast growing microblogging tool in which you can type up to 140 characters into your update box, and that update gets sent out to everyone that has chosen to follow you.

There are a tremendous number of ways to use Twitter to achieve communication objectives. Firefighters have used it to communicate with their team to fight wild fires in California. Huge companies like Comcast have used it to communicate with their customers. Celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal have used it to converse with their fans. Political leaders like Barack Obama have used it to raise money or build support.

If you are still unconvinced on how Twitter can help a school, here are the top 5 applications of Twitter for schools.

1. Faculty internal communication

One of the best benefits of Twitter is that it is able to disperse information to a large number of people instantly. When a twitter update is submitted either online or by text message, it instantly gets delivered to all the follower’s Twitter feed or cellphone. If the school principal had an important message for all faculty, he could send a text message to Twitter and it would be delivered to each faculty member’s mobile device (hopefully the teachers have their phones on vibrate as to not interrupt a lesson).

2. Communicating with Students

The principal could encourage students to follow him on Twitter. When he wants to provide valuable information to the student body he could “Tweet” it and have a direct way to communicate with students any time. Teachers can also communicate important directions or reminders to his/her class. For instance, “Reminder: rough draft of first essay due this Fri”.

3. Build relationship with Faculty or Students

Twitter is a community and there are relationships being created and developed every day. A principal or teacher often wants to build a positive relationship with their students to help them be successful. For example a principal can recognize a student for extraordinary achievement or let the student body know that he is proud of them. Any individual can also communicate directly with someone else on Twitter. Either by including their handle in the message, e.g. @MikeJ Congrats for Qualifying for State in the long jump. Or by using d followed by the handle for a message that only that individual will see, e.g. d Mike J I’m proud of your accomplishments, keep up the great work.

4. Learn about Students

Faculty can also learn about their students by following them on Twitter. This can be helpful in finding ways that they can help students, e.g. if they learn that a student is struggling with Calculus or struggling with life by following their updates.

5. Communicate with Parents

Encourage parents to follow you on Twitter and you can have a very useful communication channel to this important group. You can keep parents in the loop on school issues as well as ask for help or support.

Also check out this article on “Twitter for Academia” on the blog Academhack.